WE asked for it and we are getting it. Our offices are rapidly taking on the appearance of the sorting room in a large post office around Christmas time. Yet it is gratifying to see these torrents of mail pouring in because they prove to us your interest in the various projects sponsored by POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY.

W. F. Pittsburgh, Pa. i want to get a good shot of a certain farmhouse, but the best vantage point is a knoll across the road from it. While there isn't a heavy flow of traffic along this road, there's still enough so that I’m apt to spoil a negative if I stop down and shoot at anywhere from 1/10 second to a full second, as I'd like to do.

Dear Sir: Regarding your article, "We’re in the Army Now,” I wish to compliment Corporal Joe Doe on his write-up of the Signal Corps Photographic School. As a former trainee of Fort Monmouth, I would like to see more of the work of the Signal Corps.

The grim intentness of a military mission is contrasted with scenic beauty in this picture taken from the nose of a Flying Fortress. Note how foreground framing helps to tell the story. (For Technical Data see page 78)

Government authorities have approved this handy regulations cardo it teils you what subjects to avoid, and what ones you have a right to photograph.

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THIS is war. The activities of the photographer have been restricted to safeguard our great war effort. Some camera users have gotten into trouble by taking forbidden pictures, however innocently. Others have been kept from making harmless snapshots by officers not entirely familiar with the regulations.

THIS war is one of huge numbers of fighting men and mass production on home fronts. Both of these things suggest repetition and vast patterns, and it is only natural that such effective photographic themes be put to good use in picturing the nation's gigantic and irresistible march to victory.

Get top-notch beach shots by following the advice of a man who plans thousands of publicity photos for seaside resorts.

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EYRE POWELL

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THE beach is a happy hunting ground for photographers. It offers a wealth of interesting subject matter, in a setting made to order for taking pictures. Whether you are out for salon prints or album snapshots, the beach affords many opportunities to get results that are better than average.

THE Women’s Royal Naval Service, known in Britain as the "Wrens,” has turned to wartime photography. Already doing a vital job in winning the war as radio and signal specialists throughout the British Isles and on patrol boats off the coast, these women now are undergoing intensive camera and darkroom training at the Royal School of Air Photography.

When Brooklyn police allegedly took bribes from gamblers, movies recorded the action. Here’s the cameraman’s story of the ¡ob.

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ALFRED H. MILLER

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AS accurate and as reliable a detective as you can find, the movie camera has proven itself an invaluable aid to law enforcement. It does not lie, and what it witnesses it records with unerring faithfulness. In court, the human witnesses and investigators can testify about some things and forget about others; but if a convincing motion picture record of the action is available, a really strong case can be built.

WOMEN comb their hair too much. Even when milady is outdoors, where wind-blown hair is quite in order, she reaches for her comb as soon as the photographer takes out his camera. This is unfortunate. Hair that is carefully arranged seems as out of place in informal outdoor pictures as a dinner jacket at a wiener roast.

This camera fan shuns plain backgrounds in favor of "useless detail" that will have personal interest in years to come.

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ROBERT A. WILKINSON

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HAND in hand with technical developments and artistic improvements in the art of photography has come a tendency to banish from the fold the common or garden variety of picture takers—the snapshooters. It is not my purpose to quarrel with those fine photographers who fairly curl up their lips as they point out how backyard details clutter a picture and detract from the central subject or subjects.

Have you ever wished that you had some black-and-white prints of your favorite color slides? Here’s how to make them.

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LARRY RIORDAN

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JUST because your camera happened to be loaded with color film when you took that particularly fine portrait or scenic, you don’t have to be without black-and-white prints and enlargements. Any amateur with a fair knowledge of processing and a sense of judgment can make them successfully.

If you want to make unusual and attractive pictures of ordinary subjects, try outdoor silhouettes—but keep themyyphotographic!yy

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S. J. Ressetar

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AS ORIGINALLY conceived, the silhouette was a very elementary type of picture, made without the use of a camera. It was composed of pure whites and blacks, and as a novelty provided a source of interest and amusement. In short, it was simply a picture of a shadow.

This colorful, scenic continent, where Old World culture and modern civilization rub shoulders, is truly a cameraman’s paradise.

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HERBERT C. LANKS

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WHEN you want certain pictures badly enough you have to go after them. That’s why I traveled from one end of South America to the other in order to take stills and movies of the magnificent scenery and fascinating peoples of our neighboring republics.

Some photographers spend years guggling color images back and forth between celluloids and paper supports. They say there’s a reason why.

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KIRBY KEAN

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THERE’S something intriguing about Carbro. It is conceded, by the manufacturers of the materials it employs, to be the most beautiful, and yet the most difficult, of the several color printing methods. It has some advantages that are provided by no other processes.

ALL too often a photograph is spoiled by a blending between subject and surroundings. Quite the opposite is true in these two shots, in which the camera's sharp eye nearly failed to penetrate camouflage at close range. (For Technical Data see page 78)

You don't have to go to the mountains for dramatic outdoor photographs. G. L. Osmanson of Morris, Ill., snapped these fine ones in flat farming country. He chose camera angles carefully and used a filter to bring out clouds overhead. (For Technical Data see page 78)

ANIMALS sometimes seem almost as expressive as humans. it you catch them at just the right moment, you can get pictures that show all the different moods from joy to sadness. (For Technical Data see page 78)

IT would take all summer even to skim over the picture possibi1ities of the beach. This year try to get more action shots, showing subjects doing something, instead of stiffly posed photos. These examples are by Earl Theisen of Look Magazine.

EVEN if you are forced to. spend the week-ends in town this summei to save gasoline and tires, therce are plenty of chances to use your camera. The parks offer scenic settings for pictures like these. (For Technical Data see page 78)

FLYING water makes interest ing photo patterns, but it takes the right camera tricks to bring out its beauty. Shoot against the light, with an exposure that is long enough so drops will appear as short streaks instead of dots. (For Technical Data see page 78)

ACROBATICS high up m the aír give a feeling of gripping suspense to the observer who is on the spot. By good photography you can catch this sensation wilh your camera and bring it out in dramatic pictures. (For Technical Data see page 78)

THERE is lots of natural appeal in pictures of all pets. You can add to their interest by including the owner, whether you photograph a stylish woman with a pedigreed dog or a farmer's child with a pet pig. (For Technical Data see page 78)

For a striking print, try a photographic relief. Fred G. Korth of Chicago made a film positive of a portrait (right) by contact with the original negative, and then sandwiched the two together, out of register, for printing. (For Technical Data see page 78)

Now is the time to enter your best pictures in the most important photographic contest of the year. Whether you're an amateur or a professional, whether your pictures are in black-and-white or color, "straight" or retouched, makes no difference.

This simple dark box serves as additional "bellows" for your single-extension camera, and will allow you to make good pictures of small objects at close range.

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GEORGE LAGER

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SOME of the most interesting phases of indoor photography — closeups, tabletops, and copying—usually require a camera equipped with a doubleextension bellows. Many cameras lack this equipment; however, an inexpensive setup that permits the use of any camera with single extension and detachable back can easily be built.

Not touring this year? Don’t let that keep your movie camera idle. There are plenty of good subjects near home.

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Quick Tray Repair

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ORMAL I. SPRUNGMAN

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RESTRICTIONS and priorities on cars, tires, and gasoline need not mean curtailment of summer movie making. There is plenty of material for good pictures right around your own home, and in tire community in which you live. If that vacation trip is called off, don’t put your camera on the shelf.

Here's a chance to serve our fighting men. Take pictures of people and things nearest their hearts, to be sent to them in the field.

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RULES AND REGULATIONS of the SNAPSHOTS FROM HOME LEAGUE

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A GLIMPSE of home looks mighty good to a soldier fighting in a foreign land or a sailor on some faroff sea. Pictures of loved ones are a welcome addition to letters, and they help the nation’s war effort by contributing to the morale of our fighting men.

SUMMER brings fine conditions for taking pictures, but it can spell trouble in the darkroom. Contrasty negatives, blisters, reticulation, and frilling are likely to occur during warm weather if the temperature of your solutions is not kept under control.

Accurate, split-second synchronization is afforded by this simple unit. You can make it and install it with a few simple tools.

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LOUIS HOCHMAN

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ONE of the most foolproof types of flash synchronizer is the electromagnetic, or solenoid, variety, which actuates the camera shutter at the instant the flashbulb is fired. If you’d like to own one of these, and can’t afford to buy one just now, you can make an efficient unit in a few hours at very little cost.

WHEN you are developing more than one sheet of film in a tray, as is sometimes necessary, there’s always a danger of the films sticking together. You may not realize this until considerable damage has been done, or you may even damage the films in separating them.

S. J., West Roxbury, Mass. — Foreground framing often improves pictures of this sort, and you had a good idea in shooting through the branches. However, F. L. G., Tuxedo Park, N. Y.—Repetition of similar objects makes a good picture theme, and one that is unusual the effect could have been made better by placing your main subject —the boy in the boat—a bit nearer the center of the picture.

MADE OF Tenite, and fitted with a magnifying lens, the new Hollywood Viewer accommodates 35 mm strip film as well as 2 x 2" transparencies in paper, metal, or glass mounts. The diffusing window can be removed when strip film is to be viewed.

NEWS Photographer I. Russell Sorgi of the Buffalo Courier Express made the shot of a lifetime recently when his camera caught the mid-air flight of Mary Margaret Miller, a 35-year-old Chicago divorcee, who leaped to her death from a downtown hotel window ledge.

Army photographers are being prepared to shoot war films for their news value and for troop training.

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Peter B. Woolley

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BRINGING truthful, accurate war news to the home front has become recognized as an essential military operation. To provide newsreel photographers who will cover the war in movies, the United States Army Signal Corps has established training courses for cameramen who will accompany our armed forces.

WHEN a great motion picture comes along, it is a safe bet that its greatness is the result of all studio departments working smoothly together, with each making a definite contribution. The Warner Brothers’ Yankee Doodle Dandy is a superb film, and much of its notable quality is due to the work of a short, scrappy, round-faced Chinese named James Wong Howe.

THE Movie maker who is interested in making money with his hobby should contact Die professionals of nearby golf courses. Nothing helps correct golf faults like motion pictures, and if you can get good shots you will find plenty of work in this line.

A GOOD footswitch is an invaluable aid in the darkroom, as it leaves the hands free for more important tasks than turning the enlarger light on and off and eliminates one cause of enlarger vibration. Here is a handy switch that you can make yourself, at little cost, using only a few simple tools.

Camera clubs throughout the nation are finding definite ways of assisting their localities in wartime activity. Newsworthy examples of this war work will be publicized in this department as they come to notice, with the idea of suggesting similar ways and means to other clubs.

ESPECIALLY handy for emergency use when you’re on a trip, but equally useful as a regular part of your photo equipment, the drying rack shown in the accompanying illustration can be made in a few minutes by anybody. One of its best features is that it can be folded up when not in use, so as to take up very little space in a suitcase or shelf.

THE following simple trick has rendered the mounting of prints with rubber cement easier and more accurate for me. Coat the back of the print with cement as usual, then place it, face up, on a sheet of glass which is larger than the print itself.

Gordon Soar Williams, Seattle, Wash., took this dramatic picture From the bombardier’s position in the nose of a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress. Another FlyingFortress is shown in the clouds up ahead. On the left of the photo appears a portion of the bombardier’s figure, recorded as he was lining up his bombsight for practice.

CABLE releases have a strange talent for getting lost when they are left lying around with other photo equipment, so I devised a method whereby my cable is always at hand and can be used at a moment’s notice. I simply attached two leather tabs, or loops, to the top of my eveready case, and I slip the cable through these when it is not in use.

AN outstanding collection of 100 prints from among prize-winners in the 1941 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY Picture Contest has been chosen to make up the Third Annual Traveling Exhibit. Plan to see these pictures when they are displayed near your home on their annual tour.

GOOD PICTURES, by J. Lavelle McCoy, Jr. Published by Argus Incorporated. Paper bound, 5V2X&V4' 52 pages, illustrated, 25c. A practical and helpful booklet for the beginner, containing good basic information and hints which constitute adequate and satisfactory answers to the questions most frequently asked about taking pictures.

A SIMPLE and inexpensive agitator for your developing tank can easily be constructed of odds and ends of material. This accessory runs by waterpower, hence costs little to operate. Yet it is perfectly reliable, as I have learned from experience.

MOST photographers stamp their names and addresses on the reverse side of every print they make, and it’s decidedly a good idea. However, in many cases the stamping ink does not get a chance to dry properly before the prints get shuffled together, with the result that some of the pictures get smeared.

WHEN acetic acid began to get scarce due to wartime priorities, photographers logically began using vinegar in making simple short-stop baths for prints. There’s no special problem involved when an ordinary stop-bath is to be made, but many fairly common formulas call for somewhat more accurate measurements.

YOU can make a very efficient copying stand by building an adapter to fasten your camera to the upright of your enlarger. The design of the camera bracket depends upon the type of enlarger that you have, and with a little ingenuity you can work out one that will serve the purpose very well.

SEVERAL models of present-day flash synchronizers are made to take small bayonet-base lamps only. Test bulbs are available for the standard screw socket size, but I wanted some means of testing my bayonet-base flashgun and could find no bulbs of the proper voltage.

RECENTLY my dealer ran out of regular mounting board just when I needed some badly. I was able to make up some substitutes, however, which filled the bill very well. Securing some cardboard about 1/8" thick, I cut it into sheets of the desired size.

POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY, 540 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill., announces its 1942 Picture Contest with $3,500.00 in U. S. War Savings Bonds and Stamps, Trophies, and Certificates of Award. The contest is conducted in two divisions—color and blackand-white—and prizes will be awarded in each.

SOMETIMES you may want to photograph a friend in a parade, but find that when his section of the procession is approaching you are hemmed in by the crowd. If your camera is equipped with a delayed-action device you can overcome this difficulty.

THE negative is the keystone of all photographic construction. You have considered the routine of making the negative ; you have considered the characteristics of the negative ; you have learned to read the negative ; and you have learned the important factors concerning the technical characteristics of the image.